Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1887-06-16
READY TO DIVIDE UP.
DIR. obed Harvey Proposes to Start the
Good Work at Gait.

Good Work at Gait.
DR.. Obed Harvey, in a letter to the Gait
Gazette concerning the onward movement
for increase of settlement upon our lands
and aiding the tide of prosperity, says:
The commendable and jealous movement
of the Sacramento people comes timely and
in good grace. Sacramento city is the geo.
graphical and commercial center of a vast
region of fertile country, tributary to this
central point or market, commanding the
double advantage of the trade across the
mountains, the East and the vast Western
Territories, and that of San Francisco, the
outlet to all parts of the world for the
varied products of our soil and industries.
The question of subdivision of land to
meet present requirements and the de-
mands of incoming immigration is now
being Wrestled with. To me there is but
one argument. To illustrate Suppose five
or ten men owned all the land in Califor-
MIA and there were no people to live ON it.
Is not the argument ended and the case
closed? But" saws one, you will not
sell your land" A few months since l
made the offer to sell in the immediate
vicinity of Gait, provided the owner of ad-
iacent land would join me with a similar
tract-the same to be divided and sold in
of the soil. The owner of this land enter
aimed the proposition for time. but de-
clines to take action at present Although
my available land is much smaller COM
paratively than some of my neighbors, yet
1 renew my offer to sell in small tracts in
dependent of any one, and if in the interest
of locating colony of thrifty, industrious
people, who mean the development of the
soil, count me in and my land at a most
reasonable figure; but if to locate some
thriftless person upon some choice selec-
ton of land, whose main object is to make
it headquarters to raid and appropriate
all that surrounds him, and not cultivate
one foot of the soil, then / have no land for
sale.
The question of irrigation, which would
seem entirely practicable by the diversion
of our ample water courses, comes in for a
share of discussion. While our portion CT
the State is especially favored, and all our
grain products mature and nearly all of the
fruits and grape productions do well with
out it, yet system of irrigation would add
vastly to the production of the grasses,
perennial growths and other crops, by du-
plicating the same, and upon much of our
now unproductive land. Irrigation is the
only quickening power that has produced
one OF the most marvellous and continuous
DOOnuS Known III tne history Oh our tllneS
in the southern portion OF this State, and
that, too, upon an unproductiye and sterile
soil compared with our own.
Now, one word regarding our own local
ity, for we must expect to catch the ripple
of the great wave that is inevitably COM
ing. Gait has never been wrought upon
by any over excitement, and consequent
relapse. Situated as it is in the fertile val
ley OF the Sacramento, on the line OF the
Western Pacific Railroad, at the junction
OF the railroad running east to lone City,
and midway between the cities of Sacra-
mento and Stockton, commands unusual
advantages of communication to all parts
of the State; offers facilities and advantages
for cheap and desirable homes, both III
small and large tracts, in a healthy local
ity scarcely excelled by any portion of the
State. Town sites for Improvements, for
all kinds of trade and mechanical indus
tries, can be had unprecedentedly low.
Prices and terms for homes shall be made
so satisfactory that none need go else
where. The advantages afforded by our
schools, our churches, facilities of trade,
manufacturing and mechanical industries,
compare most favorably with any similar
town in the State.